The Bridge World

MASTER SOLVERS CLUB

Scores for the August 2020 Contest

Problem A

Imps
North-South vulnerable
You, South, hold:

♠ Q 3

♥ 7 6 5 3

♦ K Q 5

♣ 8 7 6 4

SOUTH	WEST	NORTH	EAST
——	——	——	1 ♥
Pass	1 ♠	2 ♠^*	Pass
?

^*BWS: natural

What call do you make?

Action	Score	Panel Votes	% of Solvers
3 ♠	100	16	32
Pass	70	7	62
3 ♦	50	4	5
3 ♥	50	1	0
4 ♠	10	0	1
else	0	0	0

Problem B

Matchpoints
East-West vulnerable
You, South, hold:

♠ A K 4

♥ J 4

♦ K 10 9 5

♣ 10 7 3 2

SOUTH	WEST	NORTH	EAST
——	1 ♥	Double	Pass
?

What call do you make?

Action	Score	Panel Votes	% of Solvers
2 ♥	100	11	47
1 NT	80	4	5
2 ♠	80	4	3
3 ♦	80	3	25
3 ♣	70	1	1
2 ♦	60	3	14
1 ♠	60	1	4
2 ♣	60	1	2
else	0	0	0

Problem C

Matchpoints
East-West vulnerable
You, South, hold:

♠ 7 4 2

♥ 6 3 2

♦ A 5 3

♣ A K 6 4

SOUTH	WEST	NORTH	EAST
——	——	1 ♣	Pass
?^*

^*BWS: 2 ♣ forcing to three clubs; 2 NT invitational

What call do you make?

Action	Score	Panel Votes	% of Solvers
1 ♦	100	14	26
2 ♣	90	12	49
2 NT	40	1	19
1 NT	40	1	5
else	0	0	1

Problem D

Matchpoints
East-West vulnerable
You, South, hold:

♠ A 7 4

♥ A 4 2

♦ Q 8 7 3

♣ Q 6 2

SOUTH	WEST	NORTH	EAST
——	——	1 ♠	3 ♦
?

What call do you make?

Action	Score	Panel Votes	% of Solvers
Pass	100	9	20
3 ♠	90	8	19
3 NT	90	7	25
Double	70	4	13
4 ♠	20	0	18
4 ♦	0	0	5
else	0	0	0

Problem E

Imps
East-West vulnerable
You, South, hold:

♠ A J 3

♥ Q

♦ A K J

♣ Q J 8 5 4 3

SOUTH	WEST	NORTH	EAST
1 ♣	Pass	1 ♦	Pass
?

What call do you make?

Action	Score	Panel Votes	% of Solvers
3 ♦	100	11	15
3 ♣	80	7	34
1 ♠	80	7	17
2 NT	60	2	10
2 ♣	40	1	4
2 ♠	20	0	12
3 ♥	0	0	5
2 ♦	0	0	2
3 NT	0	0	1
else	0	0	0

Problem F

Imps
North-South vulnerable
You, South, hold:

♠ 8 4 3

♥ 7 4 3

♦ K Q 3 2

♣ A Q 7

SOUTH	WEST	NORTH	EAST
——	——	1 ♣	Pass
1 ♦	Pass	1 ♥	Pass
?^*

^*BWS: 1 ♠ = four-plus spades; not necessarily extra values; 2 ♠ = artificial game-force

What call do you make?

Action	Score	Panel Votes	% of Solvers
3 ♣	100	14	33
1 NT	50	5	16
1 ♠	40	5	11
2 ♣	40	2	9
2 NT	30	1	20
2 ♥	30	1	2
2 ♠	0	0	8
Pass	0	0	1
else	0	0	0

Problem G

Imps
Neither side vulnerable
You, South, hold:

♠ A K 7 6

♥ A 2

♦ 4 2

♣ A 10 9 6 4

SOUTH	WEST	NORTH	EAST
——	Pass	Pass	2 ♦
?

What call do you make?

Action	Score	Panel Votes	% of Solvers
3 ♣	100	12	31
Double	80	7	54
2 ♠	70	5	8
Pass	70	4	5
2 NT	10	0	1
3 ♦	0	0	1
else	0	0	0

Problem H

Imps
North-South vulnerable
You, South, hold:

♠ 10 9 8

♥ K Q J

♦ 9 8 7

♣ J 10 9 8

SOUTH	WEST	NORTH	EAST
——	2 ♣	Pass	3 ♦^*
Pass	3 ♠	Pass	4 ♠
Pass	5 ♣	Pass	6 ♦^†
Pass	Pass	Pass

^*one-loser suit
^†second-round heart control; no appropriate control-bid

What is your opening lead?

Action	Score	Panel Votes	% of Solvers
♣ J	100	14	36
♣ 9	90	1	0
♣ 8	90	0	0
♥ K	80	9	56
♠ 10	60	4	4
♦ 9	0	0	3
♥ Q	0	0	1
♦ 7	0	0	1
else	0	0	0

MSC CONTEST

These are the scores that were assigned to the problems, as well as the number of votes each solution received from our expert panel, and the approximate percentage of solvers' answers.

See the August issue of The Bridge World to read the panel's in-depth discussion of these contest problems—see how each expert answered and learn how they came to their decisions.